Haunting Memory
by Chiyo Nezumi
Summary: He awoke to his wife, screaming and flailing her limbs, eyes screwed shutt. Something had haunted her in her sleep; something told him he knew what. Rated T just to be safe. Sequel to Shocking Turn of Events Originally titled Twist of Fate .
1. Chapter 1

_She was walking down a hallway. It seemed familiar, somehow she remembered it. Something told her it was a memory she did not want to relive. In that instant she knew she was dreaming. She knew she was reliving the worst day in her life._

_ She couldn't stop herself, she was walking down the hall of her childhood home. She was walking into the kitchen. The smell of something vial to her wafted into her nose. Daddy's drink… He always had some alcoholic drink in hand. Leaving half empty ones all over the house, demanding she find him the specific one he wanted. _

_ She watched her hand move up to the knob on the door, slowly turning the brass knob and freeing the horrid smell from the kitchen. When her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the kitchen she was met with the sight of her mother on the floor. Her body beaten and bruised, blood starting to pool around her head. She screamed but couldn't manage it. She had no voice. Then… she heard his voice…._

_ "Young lady you should have been home thirty minutes ago! Where the hell were you?" She heard the slers in his voice, he was drunk. _

_ She looked at him, but she was frozen in place. She could only watch as he stood up and stalked over to her; her mother's cast-iron skillet in his hand, blood coating the outer edge of it... her mother's blood._

_ He lifted up his arm, wound up, and released._

She sat right up screaming bloody murder as she came out of her dream. Waking Loki in the process. She shut her eyes tight and started flailing her arms, at some point she stood up on the bed. Loki, with wide and concerned eyes, tried to catch his wife to calm her down. Yet she was proving too volatile to catch. Reaching for her hands she smacked him across the face a number of times and once managed to scratch the side of his face, that had actually hurt him.

"MICHELLE!" He finally yelled out.

Suddenly she stopped, looking at her husband she began to cry. He knew what her dream had been. He said nothing, she didn't need, nor want, any words from him. She simply wanted him to hold her, and right as she was about to fall asleep again, he dared to speak. Three words that she needed desperately to hear: "I am here."


	2. Chapter 2

The sunlight poured into their room. Grunting from the brightness Michelle buried her face into her husband's chest. She heard him groan as he moved. Looking up at his face she saw the dark circles under his eyes.

"Loki… what happened?" She asked with concern clinging to every word.

Smirking, "I kept your dreams pleasant."

"So you didn't sleep… Loki I told you before, and I'm saying it again; I'm a big girl. You don't have to protect me from myself." She seemed to reprimand him, yet her tone told him she was thankful for him.

Stretching the sleep from her body she smiled as she saw her husband rubbing his neck. Replacing his hands with hers she worked out every last kink in his body. Both made no attempt to even start their day. Before they knew it they had spent half the day just being in each other's company.

Yet someone must have missed them due to the bounding of footsteps in the corridor just outside their doors. Loki heard them first then Michelle heard them as well. Michelle smiled as she realized who the footsteps belonged to. Her favorite person on Asgard, Annalina.

Bounding into the room, the elderly mother-figure bellowed out, "Loki, Michelle, get out of the bed this instant! You two will not, I repeat myself, will not sleep the day away! Come the sun is shining, birds singing; it is a lovely day out! Now up!"

Annalina was not pleased with the slow movement of the two people at the receiving end of her lecture. She demonstrated her frustration by yanking off the comforter that covered Loki and Michelle. Michelle's slightly swollen stomach was poking out from under her shirt.

"We're getting up Annalina, calm down. And hey! I have to make the bed you know!" Michelle mock complained. She was fighting the urge to laugh histerically.

Annalina was hilarious when it came to Michelle's pregnancy. Saying women have been giving birth for centuries, if they survived so could Michelle. Annalina gave Michelle the look that went along with that memory and the two women started to laugh. Leaving Loki confused as to what conversation the two had just had with their eyes.

The Prince of Trickery smiled as he watched the two women begin to banter. His wife, even though she was still partially asleep, was quick witted and still very much sarcastic. However, Michelle was never a match for Annalina, the woman who often times could render the young Prince himself speechless. Pillows soon became air-born as Michelle found she was no match for Annalina's wit.

Loki sat himself at his desk in the room and simply watched that mock battle play out in front of him. Even while pregnant, his wife was still very agile. Something that awed him endlessly, her body was changing and she still managed to move as if she was not carring for another life. As if the shear importance of the reality of it all had no stressful effects on her.

The God of Lies was so far in his own thoughts he took no notice of a pillow flying right at his face. The soft filling inside the pillow collected in one corner of the pillow and that it was smacked him right in his face; causing the rest of the material to wrap around his head with the force it was thrown with. A giggle made it to his ears and he knew his wife had thrown it.

"Michelle, I feel it would be needless to say, you will pay for that." He said in an attempted stoic manner. A slight amount of humor was heard to those who knew to listen very carefully.

His wife sqwealed with delight and took off. With her robe around her in record timing and was out the door in no time flat. She ran around the corridors of the wing she and Loki's room was on. She looked over her shoulder and found that she wasn't being followed, until she returned her gaze forward. She didn't see her husband's face, more so is chest as she rammed right into him.

What should have been a painful contact ended up being a soft little thud. Smiling, Michelle managed out between breaths, "Loki, how did you do that?"

"I have rampaged into battle with Thor. If I was unable to soften your impact, I would say I was unworthy of being on Asgard." Loki said the manner that has become his own invention.

Michelle felt her husbands strong hands cover her stomach. Something her husband has started doing as soon as she started showing. It always made her giggle, seeing the stoic, cold Prince of Lies turn to a mushy first time daddy. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around it.

His eyes were focused on her stomach, their child, as he said, "Your dream, it was about your family?" Phrased as a question, it was still a statement. He didn't need to be told what her dream was about in order to tell it was about the worst day of her life.

Backing away she inhaled stiffly, "Loki, I don't want to talk about it…."

It was with this woman that he understood why Thor had gone so soft. With this woman, Loki was compassionate, loving, and caring. No one elicited a response from him like Michelle could, without even trying. Wrapping his arms around her he kissed her hair and said, "Come, let us get dressed for the day. I do believe that Lady Jane will be excited to see you."

Smiling wide Michelle said in excitement, "Jane's back? YES!" And bounded off to her room to get dressed. She knew her husband had changed the topic for her sake.

The Prince of Lies smiled to himself as he walked casually to his room, "How I managed to become a family man, I have no idea." And yet even as he sounded incredulous he was thankful that she had come into his life. She saved him, even though she had no idea that she had.


	3. Chapter 3

There were days when the mortal Princess knew she would not see much of her husband. Today was one of those days. Walking through her garden Loki had given her she headed straight to the rose bush that needed pruning. She smiled as through the leaves she saw her friend making her way towards her.

"I see that a peaceful week suited you well." Michelle said to Jane as she came into earshot. The trip Thor had taken Jane on did wonders for her. Jane was farther along in her pregnancy than Michelle was, and Jane had been wearing down. Michelle mentioned to her brother-in-law that his wife needed a vacation to just relax. He had taken her advice, and once again, she was right.

Jane smiled with her hands cradling her baby; she couldn't help but glow, "You sound like Loki, gosh!" She giggled and walked around the bush to hug her friend.

"Hazard of being married to the man… God… person!" She stammered out her reply.

"So how are you and Loki?" She asked as she looked at her friend's stomach.

Giggling Michelle rolled her eyes, "You know he's fine, he can't wait for this little guy to get here. Seriously, Loki can't wait to start teaching him magic. Is that insane or what?"

Jane snorted as she said, "You married the God of Lies! Of course that's insane! You're insane!"

Michelle and Jane started to just catch up when some women passed by. Their noses in the air and disdain plastered on their faces; three women to be exact. The middle one glanced at Michelle as she raised her voice enough for the mortal princess to overhear:

"I can't believe he chose _her._ I mean, she isn't even _Vanir_! I thought at _least _he'd choose an immortal!" She smirked with triumph when she saw Michelle's taken aback face.

The one on the left dug her knife in next, "You know he couldn't get an immortal woman. He had to go for some stupid mortal! Only a mortal would take him after what he did! I mean, he almost…."

Frigga came around the corner at that point and gave an icy smile to the three women, "Ladies, I do believe that you were just leaving."

The women's color drained from their faces and with a quick bow they hurried off. The Queen of Asgard stood in place, impossibly still, for a moment and then exhaled. "I know you two heard that. Specifically you Michelle."

Michelle's eyes stung with unshed tears, "My Queen, please, what were they speaking of? What did Loki do?" She took notice of Jane's gaze falling to a tiny rose bud, Frigga's own gaze saddened slightly.

Crossing the little space left and taking the mortal princess in her arms in a motherly embrace, "My dear… that is for your husband to tell you. Not I."

The three royal women stood there in silence. Afraid to speak for fear of the levee breaking and tears being set free. The birds did not chirp, the roses seemed to lose their sweet smell, and the sun did not bring warmth to their pale skin. No, suddenly, the air was grim, the roses lost their blush, the sun seemed to cease all shining… the only small sign of hope for any of them was after the eternal silence and deprivation of all senses, Michelle's child kicked, causing her to jump and the other two women to laugh.  
And all at once, for however brief the time, the grim feeling lifted… yet it couldn't last long.


	4. Chapter 4

Walking aimlessly down the corridors of the west wing of the castle, Michelle tried to plan what she would say, how she would ask her husband what those idiotic women had been talking about. She wasn't trying to pry, but she couldn't leave the subject alone. She had no idea what had happened that her husband apparently caused. It was driving her positively insane… if she could be driven insane… She _was_ married to the God of Trickery after all.

_'How could I possibly bring this up in a way it wouldn't upset him? I mean… I have the feeling that something big happened… and I know he's soooooo not proud of it. Jane won't tell me, Frigga won't tell me… I'm pretty sure going to Thor is not a good idea…." _She hadn't been watching where she was going and coincidentally rammed right into her husband. Shocked out of her own thoughts she saw his concerned face. She knew he knew that something was bothering her.

"Michelle, what is it?" She couldn't help but sigh internally. This was not going to go how she planned…

_'Oh crap! I'm caught!'_ Her eyes went wide before falling to look at their feet in an attempt to keep her confidence up, "Loki… I heard some women talking… They said you caused something. What were they talking about?"

Suddenly her hair was whirling around her and she felt the blood drain from her face… Loki had transported them to their room. Her knees gave way and she tried to mutter a "No fair", only she was too disgruntled to do so. It came out in a garbled mess instead of audible words.

Loki held his wife as she gained her standing once more, "I thought I told you to not listen to those women. Those women are just out to make you feel inferior to them." His eyes were stern, guarded even. He was trying to deflect this topic. Bury it so she didn't find out the truth.

"Loki, you are going to tell me what happened. What were they talking about? It's not just some rumor! Your own mother refused to tell me; saying you should tell me! Now tell me!" She lost her temper. She was quickly rising to the point of shouting.

Smirking at her current emotional state, _'I can easily deflect this.'_ "Michelle, that is a topic that may very well send you to meet my daughter."

She stood her ground, eyes becoming slits; she was a frightening sight. The younger Prince of Asgard was suddenly afraid of his pregnant, sarcastic, and generally clumsy wife. "Michelle, you cannot be serious. They were just gossiping; the women of the court rarely do anything else!"

She didn't soften at all, "Loki, what could it possibly be that would make me, **your wife**, feel any differently about you?"

Loki seemed to slink down onto their bed, all the poise he normally held fleeing from his frame. His eyes seemed to sink into their sockets, for a split second he _looked_ his age. In that moment, Michelle cooled off and was there to hold her husband. Standing between his legs, her arms wrapped protectively around him, his hands gently rubbing circles on her swollen stomach; silence rang throughout their autumn colored chamber for a full ten minutes...

His head rested on her chest as he whispered, "Before I tell you, I want you to know, I will understand if you want to leave…"

His wife opened her mouth to protest only to have Loki's hand cover her mouth. His cool skin sending a chilling feeling down her spine, "No, say nothing until I have finished telling you the only thing about me you are unaware of."

He motioned for her to sit on the bed, to take the weight off her feet. She did and he saw to it that she was comfortable before he began the tale of his treason. As he spoke of his anger, his hatred, his realization of his birth, her face contorted from shock to something resembling what he thought was pity. At one point he thought he saw disgust.

"After he fell into the Odin-sleep I was king. Thor was banished, leaving me to rule. Mother supported me, I am her son, how could she not? Yet I wanted to ensure that I would be king again; father would not remain in the Odin-sleep forever. I wanted the throne, permanently… so I told Thor that father was dead, and the peace treaty depended on his exile, and that mother forbid his return. Then I helped Laufey to Asgard. And at the last moment I destroyed him, saving Odin, looking like the savior Asgard needed… I had tried to kill Thor, destroy his precious mortal… His Jane… I went mad with power, and I nearly destroyed Asgard in my wake." Loki finished his story and at that point he saw his wife so still, so blank of all expression he had no idea what she was thinking. She had never been so quiet or still in the entirety of their knowing each other.

_'No… she sees me as everyone else does. She sees me as the monster that does not belong on Asgard… she will leave me and I will never see her again…'_ his heart sank instantly.

"Do you know why I agreed to go with you to the ball? Even before that, why I agreed to go with you on a date?" He heard his wife ask.

He looked at her with a confused expression, shaking his head no. He motioned for her to elaborate.

"I agreed because you reminded me of my brother. You just… you seemed to have this good nature, this natural love, and a want for approval from those you love; just like my brother had." She said, a single tear escaping down her face. "The last time I saw him was the worst day of my life. And when you walked into the inn I instantly thought of him. You don't look like him; it's more the air about you. You have the same essence. I know that's not a good way of wording it, but that's how I felt. I didn't want to let you go, I didn't want to let my brother go."

"All that from the first time I walked into the inn? The very time you accused me of lying with other men?" He attempted to lift the tension in his wife's own way; earning a sheepish shrug of her shoulders.

Loki saw his wife's face; ridden with guilt. He had no idea why. He had no idea what had happened to her family, only that it haunted her dreams late at night. He took his wife in his arms and let her cry it out.

She managed to get out through her sobs, "Loki, I will never leave you. No matter what happened… or what you did. I love you and you can't get rid of me that easily!"

For the first time that evening, he laughed. He couldn't help it; his wife always had a way of lifting the tension in the air by some wit that no one thought possible at times like the one they were in at that very moment. He saw her wipe her face of her tears and she smiled, "Loki, I think our little guy is hungry. Feed me?"

With a blank face for just a second Loki let out a hearty laugh, "Only you would be able to change topics like that! Michelle, how can you look at me with those eyes after what I just told you?"

Michelle chuckled low, "Loki, do you remember what I told you on our wedding day? Do you remember my vows? For better, or for worse, for as long as we both shall live? Like it or not Loki, you are most definitely stuck with me! And that is something that not even your silver tongue can get out of!"

The younger prince of Asgard helped his wife stand and as per her request, took her to the grand hall for some sustenance. In the back of his mind, a thought haunted him. One he would soon find out he could not push back.

_'What had happened to her family?'_

**Author's Note: Yes, it's the dreaded Author's Note again! But admit it; you love to see my crazy ramblings with Loki! **

**Anyway, yes I deleted Twist of Fate. If you liked it, rest assured that I will be doing something with it, just not so… heavy. But I do hope you all will start to review this. Comment too! I love to get feedback on this stuff! But remember, be nice or I won't be nice back! Or should I say Loki won't be nice back!**

**Loki: What are you speaking of woman?**

**Me: You know you love me!**

**Loki: Why would I love you?**

**Me: I wrote Michelle?**

**Loki: *tackle hugs***


	5. Chapter 5

Loki had to go to a meeting with his brother and father again, leaving Michelle to process the tale he had told her the night before. She decided to go to her garden. She was always able to think, process, whatever she needed to do.

Her favorite flowers were in full bloom, yellow tulips. There were weeds that were trying to invader her flower bed. She heard steps behind her. She remembered the voices instantly. The three women who had planted that stupid seed into her mind were back. They snickered to themselves when they saw Michelle. The middle one once again instigated it, this time speaking right to the Mortal Princess.

"He gave you this garden to keep you out of sight. You embarrass him." She said in a hateful tone.

The woman on the left sneered at Michelle and said, "I do not even understand how he saw anything in you."

Before the woman on the right said anything Michelle, in a stoic manner she learned from watching her husband, "Do you know what you ladies remind me of?"

The middle woman, obviously the leader of the little pact, huffed and asked, "What?"

Kneeling down to the flower bed and fiddling with one of the weeds as she said, "You three aren't of much consequence in court. You've been overlooked by the men you wanted. You remind me of these weeds, unwanted, useless, and quite frankly…" She stood up and with a hand cradling her swollen stomach to emphasize how much they didn't have, "pathetic."

The middle woman's nostrils flared and she screamed out, "What gives you the right to speak to me like that? You… you… you mortal whore!"

Michelle didn't cry, she didn't scream back, she didn't react in the way that the middle woman wanted. No, the Mortal Princess just smiled. Michelle couldn't help but start at a grin and let it slowly grow into a full blown smile as she saw her husband and brother-in-law standing behind the three women, dumb-founded and mouth agape.

"WHAT IS SO HUMOROUS?" Screamed the middle woman.

Looking at the arrogant woman Michelle said, "Turn around."

The three women went as pale as possible. Loki and Thor, both, were fuming now, and Michelle didn't want to see the women be sentenced to sewing their own mouths shut. "Ladies, I believe you were leaving. We won't keep you, will we darling?"

Loki's eyes were bewildered; his wife was asking him to let these women go… "Of course my dear… Brother let us step aside for these women. Here, guard, come escort these women out of the palace. Ensure they have a safe journey home." Loki motioned for one of the guards that were there to watch Michelle whenever she was in the garden. Loki was paranoid ever since the three women had run their mouths the first time.

The women, once formalities were over (they were in front of their princes after all), scurried off as fast as they could. Loki and Thor turned towards the Mortal Princess and grinned proudly at her. Michelle nodded and said, "I think my garden needs weeding."

Loki and Thor knew that Michelle had just, in her own way, informed them she wanted to be alone. The prince of lies felt like either way he would loose. If he left her alone, he would go insane with not know what his wife was going through. If he stayed, he was liable to have a family reunion with his daughter.

She knelt down and started to pluck the weeds from her garden, only long enough until she could no longer hear her husband's footsteps. Finally the steps faded out; standing she dismissed her guards and then made her way through grounds to the inner-walls of the palace.

Bend after bend, corner after corner, she wound her way towards the staircase hidden in the south tower. It wasn't so much a gift from Loki as it was something he allowed her to use now that he had taken over most of the library. _'Almost there… just a few more bends… Oh no!'_

Michelle turned the corner and was met with Lady Sif, "Lady Sif!"

With a jolt the warrior stood straight and saluted her then softened, "Michelle, that was rather formal. Is everything alright?"

_'If I don't come up with something good I'm done for…'_ And just like a snap of the fingers Michelle proved to herself she was a worthy bride of the God of Lies, "Oh, I'm covered in dirt again. Loki just gave me this gown and I was trying to rush to my room to change and have Annalina clean it before Loki saw me. I was so focused on not being seen that I was a bit startled when I ran into you." What her face did not show was the guilt that instantly started gnawing on her heart and the pit of her stomach. Sif was a friend, a good one at that. She and Jane were her best friends, on Earth and Asgard. But she couldn't afford anyone knowing her plan.

Smirking in true Sif style the warrior said, "That is why I like you. You are not like the other women here in court. Go, I will tell no one of my seeing you, or your dirt coated gown." She saluted once more, jokingly this time, and continued walking off to who knows where.

With a sigh of relief that she didn't have to keep up a lie Michelle rushed on. Her child kicked as if to protest her lie. _'I know… I shouldn't lie. I shouldn't be teaching you how to lie even before you're born… But they can't know.'_

Finally the golden walls of the palace turned a dingy, grey color and the was no sunlight there at all. No windows, it was the type of place she could see her husband as a young man turning to whenever he was upset and wanted to be left alone. Smirking she couldn't help but envision the monologues he must have had under the safety of solitude.

A tinge of guilt hit again, refusing to leave her alone. She huffed and scaled the wooden stairs. They were worn down on the spots where the servants had frequented. Once at the top of the winding circular staircase she placed her left hand on the old, splintered door. Her ring glinting in the torch-light, the emerald instantly reminding her of her husbands glistening, jovial eyes. _'Come on Michelle, he does not need to know this… You don't __**want**__ him to know about this!'_

Entering the room, releasing the musty, stale air, the Mortal Princess shut the ancient door behind her. Allowing her eyes to adjust she saw the torches for her to light, the books that she had been reading since her first day on Asgard (procedures in court, hierarchy, etc.), and the suitcase she had packed and stashed late in the night. Pulling it out and setting it on the table to hunt down the matches she had packed.

"Ah-hah, there you are you little bugger!" Pausing at her choice of words, "I've been spending too much time around Loki, Jane was right…"

Lighting the torch near her the room lit up slightly. Only it lit up more than it should have with the one torch. It was then that she realized there was a slight breeze, the door had been opened… she was caught…


	6. Chapter 6

She froze, her shoulders nearly merging with her ears. Her muscles tensed, ones she hadn't even realized existed; not a single muscle was relaxed. _'No… this can't happen! I can't get caught….'_

"Child, what on Asgard are you doing?" The familiar sound of Annalina's voice rang in her ears.

Placing the matches down on the worn table, Michelle turned to the elderly woman, "Annalina, um…" She couldn't bring herself to lie to the very woman who managed to keep her sane through her time in Asgard. She was the one who helped her learn everything a princess should know and do. She was the woman who calmed her down, spent time with her in her garden, gave her motherly advice in the absence of her own mother… No, Michelle could not lie to this woman.

As Michelle's shoulders' slumped down in defeat Annalina placed her hands on her wide hips and huffed out some air, "This is about that letter you've been carrying around is it not?"

_'How did she know?'_ Nodding her head Michelle said, "Yes, it is. But…" She looked pleadingly into the woman's eyes, "Please don't tell Loki. I don't want him to know… He just can't… I don't think I could look at him if he knew where I was going and… He just can't…."

Annalina walked towards the pregnant mortal, her gown hardly moving from all the starch. Her apron crisp and white, hair pulled tightly back into what was once a bun, hairs flying and falling from the perfect arrangement of the morning. Her work of yelling at the maids and chamberlains took a toll on her appearance. She would fix her hair soon, no doubt. "Michelle, whatever you feel Loki cannot know about remember… He is your husband. I will not speak of this to him. No I believe there will be no reason to ever bring it up to him, and surely he will not ask such a random question as to why you were using this forgotten room at the top of the servant's stairwell. Yet, he has a way of finding things out. He will catch wind of the lies that have been spun, and he will find the truth, he will not stop. This I have seen first-hand. It has always been that way."

Michelle knew she was speaking of Loki's childhood. And she yearned to hear about it, her eyes told Annalina so. But there wasn't any time, she had to leave while Loki was busy with Thor, before he knew where she was headed... before he could find out the secret she had been trying to keep from him; to spare him the burden of the humiliation and the utter hopelessness of _her_ childhood.

"What do you need child? Have you packed enough?" Annalina knew that whatever was pressing Michelle to such secrecy must be of great importance.

A huge sigh of relief was heard from the pregnant princess. Holding her stomach and a single tear running down her face, "I do need one thing. I need you to tell Loki, when he asks where I am… tell him that I'll be back soon. I should only be gone for a week at the most. I… tell him I have to finish something that was started long ago."

She pulled out her Earth clothes and hoped she could fit into the pants. Annalina, while she found those clothes inappropriate and vulgar, helped Michelle into them. And took the gown and said, "Sif told me of your story to wash this before Loki sees. I will stall as long as I can. I will fetch one of the maids to get you a cloak and help you use the passages to get out of the palace unseen. You are still a princess, you cannot be seen in such clothing. There will be a young man to take you on horseback to the Bifrost."

It had to be partly due to the hormones, for Michelle started to cry, "Thank you Annalina. Even in the face of such a sketchy escapade you still manage to handle it with such grace. Thank you so much!" She hugged the woman, and when Annalina kissed her forehead she knew that while the woman didn't know what it was that drove her to do this, Annalina would always do whatever she asked of her.

"Stay here, I will return with the maid and see the two of you off." With that Annalina turned to leave only to have Michelle stop her.

"Why was it that you came up here? You said so yourself; this end of the palace has been long since forgotten." She was confused and a little suspicious.

Smiling over her shoulder, "I saw you rushing about the corridors and decided that I should follow you. You had the same look Loki had at twelve years old. That was the day he kissed Sif on the lips."

Michelle smiled and repressed a laugh at the image of her husband with a red handprint on his face. The door thudded closed and Michelle was left alone. Inside her luggage was the letter. Pulling it out carefully she opened it, the worn paper, the stains from tears were visible. The ink smeared slightly from the writer, obviously left-handed. The indentations showed there was sorrow in the strokes every now and then; the writer had regrets that were expressed to reader. Michelle felt her eyes well up and her throat tingled as if to warn her she would cry if she read the letter again. She would cry just like she did every time she read that letter, the one she kept hidden from everyone, even her husband.

Soon enough Annalina returned with a scullery maid. She looked worried that Annalina had dragged her to this forgotten part of the palace. When she saw her Princess in Midgardian clothing her eyes went wide, well… wider.

Smiling, or attempting to at least, "What is your name sweetie?"

Blushing from being spoken to so directly the maid folded her hands in front of her and with head hung low she said, "Grid, my Lady."

"Grid… ah, Peace. It is a beautiful name, and very fitting for you. Thank you for helping me." Michelle hugged Grid and then let her place the cloak about her shoulders.

Michelle looked at Grid, she couldn't have been much older than fourteen years old. She was dainty, yet strong. Her eyes seemed to hold a resemblance of a man she knew very well, Loki. She wondered if she too had lineage to the Frost Giants. Perhaps she had fled from Jotenheim. Either way Grid was a very beautiful young lady and if she had anything to do about it, when she got back, she was going to see to it that Grid was well taken care of.

"Child come, you must be off. Your husband is in search of you I fear. He will be looking in your room, however this tower will be on his list of places to teleport to. Be on your way!" Annalina urged the pregnant mortal and the scullery maid into an opening that had not been there a moment before. Michelle had missed how to open it due to her thoughts of Grid. Yet, there was no time to dwell on it. There was no time to waste.

The soft, timid voice of Grid rang into Michelle's ears, "My Lady, are you well enough to run? I can fetch the horseman to come and carry you."

Smiling at the young girl Michelle said, "I'm married to Loki, if I couldn't handle a little exercise now and then I'm not fit for the title of Princess. Come on, we don't have much time." Michelle was not running so much as walking extremely fast. Her baby kicked her kidney at one point, signaling her that the excitement was not appreciated.

Holding her stomach she said, "I know little one. We are almost there, hang in there a little longer."


	7. Chapter 7

The hidden passage that Michelle found herself in made her slightly uneasy, same could be said for her baby. The stone a storm-cloud grey and cobwebs decorated the corridor with a forsaken air froze her to the core. The temperature was cool enough to cover her arms in goose-bumps. From within her stomach Michelle's unborn child pressed a tiny hand outward, signaling that the excitement was not going unnoticed. Hands cradling her stomach she pushed onward. Grid took notice and paused. With a match taken from the pocket of her apron she lit a torch hung on the wall and offered, "Ma'am, we can stop for a moment. Let you regain some strength."

Smiling at the young girl before her, Michelle's eyes stung with the dust floating in the air. No doubt it was disturbed by their feet stamping down the corridor, "Grid, we must keep going. Loki cannot know what I am doing."

Grid looked at her mortal Princess; sweat gleamed on her forehead when the flame's light danced in the darkness, her hair falling down around her shoulders and her circlet that had once been placed ever so carefully was now tilted off kilter, then there was her stomach. She wasn't heavily pregnant but well on her way. Grid felt her heart ache at whatever brought her Princess to secrecy.

Michelle was well aware of the fact that this seemed as if she was running from Loki and perhaps even leaving him, yet in time it would all be cleared up. After time passes, after her business is finally finished, everything would be cleared up and smoothed over. Yet in hear heart, deep down, she knew that something was off. Something seemed too perfect about her mission. Something was aligning too well, she just couldn't place it.

She began panting as the corridor seemed to never end. She hollered to Grid saying she needed to rest and promptly leant against the wall. Head resting back on the cool stone and chest heaving up and down with the effort she had just exerted. Grid knew Michelle wouldn't be able to make it the rest of the way. The corridor was far too long for the Princess to make it in her current state. "My Princess, wait here. I will fetch the horseman. He will be able to carry you the rest of the way."

Standing straight to protest Michelle watched Grid disappear down the corridor. Leaning against the wall once more she cradled her child. Mind wandering she thought of Loki, looking for her, how upset he would be if he ever found out where she had gone to, and how she could never let him know what she was about to do.

Suddenly a voice rang through her own mind, yet seemed to ring through the corridor simultaneously, _'Please Mikie, run, RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!'_

A hand on her shoulder jolted her away from the voice, eyes widened with fear she looked at the owner of the hand. It was the horseman, "Oh, you startled me." Grid was behind him, peering around the man her eyes were curious as to what her Princess had just been thinking.

"Forgive me my princess, Lady Grid said you were too weak to rush down the corridor. I'll carry you." He scooped her up and carried her to the exit of the corridor. He was so young, and so full of optimism. That Michelle could tell, and in her heart she said a silent prayer that her child could have a part of this young man's optimism and part of Grid's innocence. Her prayer seemed to calm her child as the kicking and pushing stopped. The young man started down the rest of the corridor and soon enough they exited out to the side of the castle, horses waiting. They were ground tied and patient. A beautiful jet black horse with a crescent-moon shaped white mark on its forehead, with the other horse being a beautiful white horse with what looked like a black star on its forehead.

The horseman set her and placed Grid behind her on the black horse to ensure their Princess wouldn't fall off. Michelle looked at him and said, "You are very brave helping me like this. I will never forget it."

His eyes went wide for a split second before he regained his composure, "You are my princess, and I will always help when I can."

A huge commotion was heard from the palace. Michelle didn't wait for the horsemen to get on his horse, she just took off. Knowing that now that Loki knew she was gone it was only a matter of time until he came to the Bifrost. Her heart sank with the sound of the horse's hooves taking her farther from her husband, and closer to her past.

The Bifrost was truly one of her favorite things in all of Asgard. Bright and colorful, always holding hope and a sense of peace about it; only today it was just a road. Her road in fact, her road to her memories, her past…

_A scream rang through the house. A thud sounded right after. Michelle could feel the blood trail down her face, over her eyebrow, sting her eye as it trailed further down until she could taste iron. Whipping her head around to look bewildered at her attacker she said, "Why are you doing this?"_

_ The skillet in hand coated with not only her mother's blood but hers as well now. His eyes sunken in and his chest heaving up and down as if he was worn out, he looked at his daughter, "You think you can do whatever you want? You think you can… can just leave? You… you can't… I won't let you!" He drew back once again but before he could hit Michelle she ran. She ran upstairs and right into her brother. He was beaten and blood covered too. _

_ "Mikie, the cops are on the way. Come on, we're going out the back. I'm getting you out of here." Her brother whispered. He was in pain but insisted Michelle go ahead of him. She did as her brother said, her heart beating so fast she was sure it would stop. Straining her ears to keep tabs on her brother's footsteps and her attacker's as well. Sweat mixed with the blood spilling out of her wound above her eyebrow stinging her left eye as they ran. She and her brother's hearts skipped a beat when they heard a blood chilling scream from the other side of the house._

_ Continuing their way down the back stairwell as quietly as possible, they heard the staggered footsteps of the attacker. Michelle's breathe quickened and her brother's steps became faster as he urged her forward. Making their way around the corner to the back door Michelle heard a thud._

_ Spinning around she saw her brother on the floor at the foot of the stairs, "Ethan!" She whispered out._

_ He waved his hand for her to keep going, "Run Mikie!"_

_ The staggered steps stopped suddenly. Their attacker mumbled something only she couldn't make out. She was frozen in place as he started walking down the stairs; each step seemed to freeze her entire body to the core. She knew Ethan was yelling at her to run yet she couldn't. Her brain kept telling her body to run, get to safety… yet nothing happened._

_ The man was soon at her bothers side and hoisted him up off the floor and slammed him into the wall. Ethan screamed out "Please Mikie, run, RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! RUN!" And then the man did something she had only seen in the movies… the sound instantly met her ears and caused her skin to crawl, her eyes stung not with blood in them but with tears of pain… the man had snapped Ethan's neck._

"Princess, please, you must make haste! Your husband will soon be looking here for you!" Hiemdal said, bringing Michelle back to the present.


	8. Chapter 8

Searching the gardens, their quarters, the library; the Prince of Lies found that he could find his wife nowhere inside the palace. Pacing about the corridors, keeping a look out for his tiny framed wife, Loki ran into Sif. "Lady Sif, please, would you perhaps know the whereabouts of my wife?"

The female warrior seemed to recall a memory as she said, "I believe she was rushing off to her quarters Loki. She, well she had gotten dirt upon her gown and wanted to have it cleaned." Her eyes held the truth in her words.

Nodding his head in dismay the younger prince continued down the hallway. Finding a deep seeded fear within him, what if Michelle had left him? What if she couldn't let go of what he had done in the past. What he had almost done to Jane, Thor, his own father? What if he had lost her and didn't even know it?

The entire palace was soon aware that Loki was searching for his wife. The servants seemed to know something yet were not saying. Thor was asking about Michelle's whereabouts to Jane, yet Loki had a suspicion that he would come up with nothing helpful. No, a sinking suspicion was persisting inside Loki's mind. One that was haunting him, one that haunted his wife late at night…

Rushing off down the corridors the younger prince of Asgard ran to his and Michelle's quarters. There had to be a clue somewhere in his wife's things, some tiny thing to hint him in the right direction.

Bursting into the room, he saw nothing out of place. Well, perhaps the pages of the book Michelle left out, the gust of air caused by the doors opening had turned a couple pages. Nothing out of the norm at first glance, "Where have you gone Michelle? How could I have left you out of my sight at such a time? Our child..."

Literally tearing the room apart for some clue Loki turned up with nothing. He sat down in the middle of his mess as a tear escaped his eyes. His normally stoic face now trailed with tears as he thought of his wife, his bride, his Michelle. She was gone, no note, no word of her possible return… nothing to give him hope. Where could she have gone? She was with child, their child… what could have come over her to leave in such haste.

Suddenly he heard something familiar. It was the Bifrost… it was then he realized something horrible… "I've lost her…." he teleported straight to the Bifrost yet too late. The Prince of Lies had missed his wife. He looked at Heimdal and the young man who must have helped Michelle get to the Bifrost, their faces were sad… they thought that they had lost their mortal princess as well. Loki felt a painful jerk in his chest, a longing that was crushing his heart. He took a breath but it gave no satisfaction, the air wasn't helping any… it only made it worse.

He couldn't keep himself together, he collapsed on the ground. He felt his world crashing down. His wife had left him. She ran away… she didn't love him….

Thor and Jane had been searching the grounds and inside the palace. They arrived at the Bifrost as Loki began to break down. In that moment something happened that Loki felt he was unworthy of; Jane knelt down and held him in her arms and let him cry. Loki felt a twinge of hope when Jane held him, if the one woman who had no reason to care for him could care for him then maybe there was hope for finding his wife… to bring her back home.

Crying everything out and finally calming down enough to compose himself he finally noticed an envelope. Old, crinkled slightly, and what looked like tear stains adorned the piece of paper. He stood up and picked up the piece of paper and for the first time that day things made sense. On the front of the envelope was Mimaw and Papaw's address on Midgard and the return address was one he was unfamiliar. It as a clue, yet his curiosity was stabbing at him. He had to read the letter. He had to know.


End file.
